Lets Talk Battle Belts

OLM-Medic said:

It just looks like the blackhawk one, as well a some others, is a belt inside of a not so firm/hard outer padded belt. The blackWATER one I have is very stiff.

Am I wrong?

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The one I have has the belt built into a stiff, padded outer belt. The entire outer belt is covered in MOLLE attachments. I've put two fully loaded 4x4 shotshell holders, a 2 rifle/2 pistol mag holder and a couple of smaller pistol mag holders on it with no sagging. I'll post which model it is when I can find the label for it.

2SAM22 said:

Why are these year+ old threads always resurrected by the new guy?

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Because a lot of the really experienced folks with good information don't post here anymore and they recognize quality when they see it?

2SAM22 said:

Why are these year+ old threads always resurrected by the new guy?

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Because certain people squawk about using the search feature?

2SAM22 said:

Why are these year+ old threads always resurrected by the new guy?

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Who are you calling new?

Drmsparks said:

Because a lot of the really experienced folks with good information don't post here anymore and they recognize quality when they see it?

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Yep

jimbobborg said:

Because certain people squawk about using the search feature?

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This works too ...

Nevermind. I found some BlackWater IO MOLLE belts on eBay. They stopped making them so they are rare to find it seems. I bought one for $33 shipped, which is a good deal IMO. They are built pretty decent.

Hopefully with the smaller size it will ride on my waist and I won't need suspenders.

Same here!

hairba111 said:

If I had a dummy like that, it would have bullet holes in it's head and chest..........great target.

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I should probably chime in here, since my belt has been mentioned a couple times.

Before I started using a battle belt, I had already been shooting IPSC and 3-gun competition for a number of years. Like many IPSC shooters, I had a dedicated competition belt set up, with holster and mag pouches pre-fixed to it. Very quick and convenient to don, and have all the equipment ready to go in a consistent location.

When I took my first carbine class, I (for reasons that escape me) abandoned the everything-already-set-up-on-a-belt concept, and ran with a combination of a riggers belt and a chest rig. It worked, but as I continued to use that setup in more classes, I discovered a couple things.

First, I was carrying way too much gear. After several years of taking carbine classes, I have yet to encounter a training evolution that called for more than 3-4 mags. And as a civilian, I'm also hard pressed to think of a real-world situation where I would need more than that, either.

Along with the carrying too much weight, I was also carrying it in the wrong place. I found that I could reload my carbine much faster and more consistently from the belt than I could from a chest rig. Also, after training on a couple 100+ degree days, I was much happier NOT having the chest rig there holding heat in my torso.

And so, I found myself running everything off a riggers belt. Again, the setup worked, but I quickly discovered the downfalls. Mainly, that it got uncomfortable wearing it all day, and it took forever to put everything on.

From there, I went to the battle belt concept. Unable to find all the features I wanted in a commercial belt, I made my own. The features I wanted included:

- The ability to keep using the belt-mounted gear I had been using on my riggers belt. This is accomplished by the vertical slits in the belt, which allows the inner belt to be woven to the outside, where conventional belt pouches and holsters can be mounted. This is a valuable feature for someone making the transition from a conventional belt to a battle belt, since they can keep using the same pouches.

- The ability to accept subloads / drop leg holsters. I only rarely use them, but many people do, so I wanted the option in case I learned something new that made me change my mind.

- Padding, but not too much padding. I wanted the belt to be comfortable without pushing all my gear too far away from my body, or causing it to flop around or roll over the top of the belt.

- Contouring. If you look at a comfortable, well worn leather belt, you'll notice how it is curved to fit the wearer's body, not straight. Most battle belts seem to be straight, and as such often need suspenders to keep them from falling down. I wanted a belt that would be contoured to ride on top of the hips, without the need for suspenders.

(An aside, regarding suspenders: If you look at backpacks - not day packs, but carry-everything-you-need-to-survive-on-your-back-for-several-days packs - they all have significant hip belts, the idea being that the weight should ride on your hips, not your shoulders. The military is also experimenting with various ways of getting the weight of solders' armor off of their shoulders. And with good reason. Weight carried on the hips is far more comfortable and stable than weight carried on the shoulders.

So, running a battle belt with suspenders, and letting the suspenders carry the weight, is doing it backwards.

I don't like suspenders on a battle belt. They make it more complicated to don and doff, and add one more potential layer of "should strap buildup" when you start to add chest rigs / plate carriers, rifle slings, and packs into your loadout.

If you DO want to run suspenders with a battle belt, it is my opinion that they should be very low profile, and they should only carry the weight of the belt in the instance of a catastrophic failure of the battle belt's buckle, keeping the belt on you when it would otherwise fall off. )


My current philosophy with the battle belt is that is your first-line gear: The bare minimum that you need to either fight your way out of trouble, or fight your way to better gear. Right now I have on there my pistol, 2 pistol mags, 3 rifle mags, flashlight, knife, BOK, and dump pouch. If I need more ammo or gear, I can add a chest rig, plate carrier, or pack, but the belt alone is enough to get me through most training class, bump in the night, or defend-the-house-from-rioters scenarios.

One often-overlooked benefit of a battle belt is that you can maintain a consistent gear configuration regardless of the weather. You can put the belt on right on top of your cold weather or rain jacket, and (unlike gear on a riggers belt) you do not need to worry about whether or not to zip it up, clearing the garment away to draw or reload, or catching zipper-pulls, etc in your magwell or trigger guard.

bump for a great thread

niftyvt said:

I use the HSGI, its great. I personally use a smaller 1.5 inch Ares belt inside. I like the 1.5 inch vs the larger inner belts.

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Never did get pics up lol

aa3b1c9d by NiftyVT, on Flickr

Blue Shirt

527999_359251984150575_571138018_n - Copy by NiftyVT, on Flickr

I have since moved to a non drop holster mount and like it much better.

DSC01639 by NiftyVT, on Flickr

Thanks Kev. Great thread. Still got legs.

Thanks. Looked like a good one.

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slybarman said:

Thanks. Looked like a good one.

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It was a very good class. We shot up close and out to 300 yards. It was my first time shooting that far with my AR and I learned a ton.

Back on topic. The HSGI TACOs and warbelt performed flawlessly even in the constant downpour that we endured the entire 2nd day of the class. That belt got really nasty too.

JMintzer said:

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Okay, I've revisited this set-up. After reading the comments about my use of the mag holders in an upside down configuration, I decided to give it another go.

I lost 30 lbs last year (probably down closer to 40 since I created this set-up).

Not only is the battle belt too loose (I need to re-adjust the velcro), but it's much more comfortable to have the mags pointing upwards…

So, advice taken...

Thanks to everyone who contributed this thread. I built my battle belt for the 3 day carbine class I took at BSR in WV. Write up here - http://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=184196

I just got what I needed for the class, and figure I would add to it over time. I did reconfigure it after the first day. I had the pistol mag pouches on the right in front of the holster. But my muscle memory for reloads (lots of USPSA shooting in the 90s) has me grabbing at midline and to the left, so I moved the pistol mags to the left side.

Overall, the rig performed well for the carbine class. I am not totally happy with the holster, as the retention latch MUST be activated before you put ANY pressure on the pistol. More practice would probably help.

Viking Tactics Brokos Belt - http://www.vikingtactics.com/product-p/vtac-bb.htm
Viking Tactics Cobra Belt - http://www.vikingtactics.com/product-p/52873.htm
Blade Tech WRS Level II Retention Holster - http://shop.blade-tech.com/index.php?cPath=1_4_7#.VlhgXXarSM8
Tactical Tailor Magna Mag Double Pistol Mag Pouch - http://www.skdtac.com/Tactical-Tailor-Magna-Mag-Double-Pistol-Mag-Pouch-p/1tt.187.htm
2x ITW Fast Mag Rifle Mag Pouches - http://www.skdtac.com/ITW-FASTMAG-p/itw.110.htm
Tactical Tailor Fight Light Roll Up Dump Pouch (it was the cheapest ) - http://www.skdtac.com/Tactical-Tailor-Fight-Light-Roll-Up-Dump-Bag-p/1tt.208.htm
HSGI Taco Pistol Mag Pouch (for flash light or Leatherman) - http://www.skdtac.com/HSGI-Pistol-TACO-Universal-Pistol-Mag-Pouch-p/hsg.313.htm

I plan on adding a medical pouch, and possibly a radio pouch. Also a 3rd Fast Mag for rifle mags, that will be doubled up on the rear Fast Mag pouch.

Just wanted to bump this up.

Been discussing run and gun rigs with my BIL and this thread is one of the best information threads to ever come up on MDS (KevP's KISS carbine thread is another).

I've been thinking about dong some upgrades myself as gear changes and am still learning things from this thread.

This is a timely bump. While I have a GI flap holster. I have been looking at a Safariland that looks good. I still have a smaller Ifak to fill as the first one is a bit big. Drop pouch placement is still an issue.